Victims of celebrity publicist Max Clifford tonight said their faith in justice had been restored after he was convicted of sexually molesting them.

They spoke of their relief at the outcome of his trial in which the PR guru dismissed his accusers as ‘fantasists and opportunists’.

One victim, who was 15 when he began abusing her, said: ‘I can’t thank the police and the CPS enough for their endeavours to get justice for me and everyone else.’

She also told the BBC: ‘When I think of him, he makes me shudder and he makes me feel ill.

‘He was an opportunist. He saw a vulnerable person and took advantage of somebody who was a child and it was awful. It was a nightmare and it had huge implications for me as a young person.

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‘To see him then go on to become very high profile, to speak openly about other paedophiles and damn them and create a persona of a respectable high-profile man, who was lauded by the media, was sickening to say the least.’

Clifford was the first person convicted under Operation Yewtree, the investigation that was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile abuse claims.

The 71-year-old, from Hersham, Surrey, groaned as he was found guilty of eight indecent assaults dating back decades. He was cleared of two other charges and the jury, which spent eight days deliberating, could not reach a decision on one other charge.

He was released on bail but warned by the judge at Southwark crown court that it had no bearing on the sentence he could expect on Friday.

The publicist said nothing as he left court alongside his daughter, Louise, who wept in court when the guilty verdicts were announced.

NSPCC director Peter Watt said: ‘Max Clifford has rightly been unmasked as a ruthless and manipulative sex offender who preyed for decades on children and young women.’